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Special delivery: Berlin Borough rookie cop delivers baby just days into his job

BERLIN BOROUGH – It was his second full night on the job as a Berlin Borough police officer and Mark Peiffer got the call: A woman was in labor.

Peiffer rushed over to the parking lot of Paris Caterers on Berlin Cross Keys Road on Aug. 21 around 1:30 a.m. to respond to the call.

While the 32-year-old former teacher had no training when it came to delivering babies, he went to work as other officers and EMTs arrived to assist. Peiffer grabbed a blanket and gloves, then heard the mother scream and saw the baby’s head coming out.

Peiffer’s body cam captured the delivery of the baby girl.

Berlin Borough Police officer Mark Pfeiffer delivered a baby girl on his second full night on the job. Pfeiffer was a star wrestler at Overbrook High School where he later taught and coached. He also was a standout wrestler in college.(Photo: Berlin Borough Police Department)

“We were around the corner at another call when the call came out that there was a woman in labor at the Paris Caterers parking lot,” Peiffer said in a phone call with the Courier Post. “They said the contractions were 2½ minutes apart. Not having any kids, I didn’t know if that was a long time or a short time for the contractions, but I was there in a couple of minutes. I showed up and then other people started to show up.

“Being the new guy, I started to kind of let the other people take over, but at that time, EMS was getting out of their ambulance and my sergeant was like ‘the baby’s crowning, you’ve got to get over here’. I heard the mom scream. I saw the baby’s head hanging out, so I took a couple of quick steps in and grabbed a hold of the baby and before I had any time to think about anything, the baby came out, I just made sure I held onto it and did whatever the EMTs told me to do.”

He was actually hired by Berlin Borough PD months ago but had to go through several months of training and had just completed his FTO program a few days before.

“He’s a new officer,” said Berlin Borough police officer Steve Palma, who also rushed to the scene. “… He was kind of fresh, but like he said he was a teacher prior so he had pretty good experience and being 32 years old it kind of helped him out with the whole situation."

Palma said new officers go on a two-month FTO program in which a field training officer works side-by-side with the rookie officers teaching them the basics of working the street.

“He was basically just cut loose from riding in a car with an FTO training officer so he was by himself, so he was the first one to arrive on scene and then that’s when me and Sgt. (Jason) Christy arrived and we got the word that the baby was crowning,” Palma said

Palma said the man and woman pulled over in the parking lot and the delivery took place in the passenger side seat of the car.

“I told Peiffer when he was in a surreal moment after it and he was like 'I’m going to call my wife' and I said, ‘you’re going to wake your wife up at 2 a.m.?’ and he said yeah,” said Palma who has been an officer for 11 years, about seven in Berlin. “He was excited about it. I said this is probably going to be your first and it’s probably going to be the last time this is going to happen. We just had a chief retire. He delivered a baby almost 24 years ago and he never had it happen again.

“It’s a once in a lifetime thing that’s going to happen on the spur of the moment like that. We were in the right place at the right time. We were already in an unrelated call in the area at that time. The mother was calm. She is a nurse for the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). She was actually telling us what to do.”

He was a standout wrestler at Overbrook High School, going 101-11 and winning a 171-pound state title in 2005. He later competed at Gloucester County College where he earned All-American status twice at the Junior College Nationals (JUCOs).

Peiffer played football at Rowan University for one year, then transferred to Dana College in Nebraska where he earned a silver medal at the Division II National Championships as a wrestler. In 2010, Dana College went defunct, and Peiffer transferred to Midland University where he graduated with a degree in education in 2011.

In 2018, he was inducted into the South Jersey Wrestling Hall of Fame. He previously taught and coached wrestling at Overbrook.

“I was on cloud nine," Peiffer said about the baby delivery. "I thought it was just an amazing experience to be able to be there for somebody. As nervous as I was, I can only imagine how nervous they were. To be able to be there and help them out in that situation, it’s just very gratifying.

“It’s kind of like with sports and with teaching, every day’s going to be different. You never know what to expect. I thought it was something you just see on TV. It’s going to happen to somebody else but it will never happen to you. I called my wife. She was just amazed. She thought it was a unique experience and that it was awesome that I got that experience.”

Celeste E. Whittaker is a metro reporter for the Courier Post. The South Jersey native has worked at the Courier Post since 1998 and has covered the Philadelphia 76ers, college sports and girls high school sports. She now covers human interest stories and other news throughout Burlington County. If you have a news tip, call her at 856.486.2437 or email atcwhittaker@gannettnj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @cp_CWhittaker.